17 comments on “Suga Shikao: “Matsuura Aya is not only a good singer; she has real persuasive power. I want you to listen to her music without dismissing her as just another idol.”

  1. Matsuura Aya’s first album is still one of the best albums Hello! Project ever released.

  2. I have always loved her song Egao. I could imagine that playing on the radio. It doesn’t sound like “idol” music.

  3. One of the H!P’s finest!!! Easily top 3 all time voices that ever came from Hello Project

    Remember watching her in a movie before I even knew who she was, before i discovered Idol music for the first time.. It was “Sukeban Deka: Codename = Asamiya Saki” , a movie that had Ayaya, Charmy Ishikawa and the other members of V-U-Den in it and all I could think about was how pretty this main character… A year later, finally discovered by accident Morning Musume and the whole japanese Idol group craze and was like “ahhh!!!” i’ve seen those girls in a movie before lol

    • Haha I saw that movie. Charmy and Ayaya fight each other with yo-yos! In fact the movie was released in the US as “Yo-Yo Cop Girl”.

      • Haha, yup.. Stupid movie plot but its a remake of a manga/TV series… You got Charmy and Ayaya fighting it out in extremely tight leather outfits with cool yo-yo tricks, what more do you need, a at that point a good story is irrelevant

  4. This lady is just pure talent. And yet she is so down to earth. Her old songs remain as legendary H!P songs that so few of the current H!P members can pull off. And yet she performs all her songs live flawlessly, and even makes it look easy. And don’t even get me started on how fucking GORGEOUS she is. Her husband is one of the luckiest guys in the world.

  5. Reading this, I never realized how lucky I was to see her at the Elder Club Graduation (I was there for the OGs mainly). Might be time to pop in the DVD and rewatch the concert.

  6. Pingback: Recommended Jpop♀ Reading: April 22, 2014 | Idolminded

  7. Ayaya is more than an idol. I feel like H!P has been trying to find another soloist who can match her success and it just hasn’t happened.

    • Well I do agree, I also think the market back then has changed dramatically. Solo idol singers just aren’t the trend right now. There hasn’t been a successful solo idol singer for awhile, but hopefully there will be someone that actually makes it.

  8. Aya Matsuura is one of the best performers, forget the whole “Idol” thing hands down, of all time. It’s a shame she has been pigeon holed as an Idol, even after all this time and proving over and over again her skill. She cannot sing an off note, her vocal tone is flawless and the emotion she sings with, divine.

    She is the reason I love H!P and idols. Because in searching for some Japanese Pop, as I wanted to branch out of my comfort zone of music, Living in NYC, i went to a Japanese book/music store and blindly bought her 1st PV collection based purely on her cute face not knowing what it was. I then proceeded to buy everything she put out (pre YouTube, on Ebay), concert DVD’s and all her albums. I didn’t even know what an “Idol” was back then (2005-6) I just knew she was amazing.

    By 2006 when she clearly was trying to slowly break away from her Idol-ness, by incorporating real instruments and funky new arrangements of her hits…I was blown away. My Dad who used to be in the music business remarked that she could make it here if she learned English (High praise coming from an old Folk/classic rock guy!)

    She is an artist and should be treated and regarded as such, regardless of her beginnings. And some of her H!P work is stellar and deserves to be taken seriously too. I feel Momoe Yamaguchi transcended the Idol thing but still gets labelled as such and she is another I put in a true artist category. yes, Ayaya is that good and at age, almost 28, she could still have a great career ahead of her..if only she wished for it, but perhaps she feels it is too much of an uphill battle to bother. A shame.

  9. I really like Ayaya, but I do think she’s lying about her age. Not that she’s the first to do so.

    • Haha, what? As long as nobody does any research, maybe somebody in their 20s or 30s could fudge their age and have it be believable–but in Matsuura’s case she’d have to have been doing this since 2000. Harder to imagine something like a 17-year-old passing herself off as 13 for an audition.

  10. I love Ayaya but she’s no artist. An artist (in music) is someone who composes and writes a lot of if not all their own music so until Ayaya starts doing this she’s an idol.

    • agree, she is one of the most talented vocalists of hp ever, but that comment of the lady that ayaya was the twentysomething best female vocalist right now, well…nope, sarah brigtman could surpass her witouth effort

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